Killing Off Character In First Chapter

What is the PoV you use in your story?

If you can make the first chapter engaging and avoid your typical "parent death," then I don't think there's anything wrong with killing off a character to set things into motion for the MC. And keep in mind that you will still need something to build to for the end of the first act, so if the MC's death is the only event you can think of, then it likely should be saved for later.

I literally asked almost the same exact question here:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275174

Lots of good advice there

My take away is that, if it's right for the story, you should go for it.

One warning. Had two of my novels where a main character (not the prime) died early. Still got five star reviews but a couple critiquers and readers didn't like it. Why? Because they became attached to the character and didn't like seeing them eliminated. May be realistic but many don't read for realism, more for comfort and release. Just highlighting the possibilities. I've still killed off important characters, but I accept some may not like it.

It's not unusual to kill people quickly in murder mysteries. Some books will start after the victim is already dead. It's not the only approach, but you'll see it often enough.

It sounds like the murder is the event that sets the ball rolling and gives the main character his goal - finding his father's murderer. He can't start towards that goal until his father dies. So if you wait, you'll have chapters of waffle before the father dies and the plot can get going.

Mysteries that don't have the death early on also have different goals. The goal might be to find out what's going on at the manor house or find out what the people in the village are hiding. In those cases, the murder happens later, because finding the murderer isn't the main mystery. It's a complication which raises the stakes.